Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘animal welfare’

Tony La Russa

“Love those baseball lifers like Tony La Russa,” says Admin.

“He’s something special,” Spence says. “Did you know about his animal rescue foundation?”

“I did not.”

“Here’s a link to how it all got started.”

http://www.arf.net/about/history.php

Thanks to Mollie (a black poodle).

Parrot News

“Here’s something that relates to To Fetch A Thief,” Spence says. “The Philippine coastguard raided an animal-smuggling boat and seized a critically-endangered parrot, the red-vented cockatoo.”

“Remember that parrot scene in Dog On It?” Admin says.

“This one?” says Spence:

She opened the door, we went in and there was the bird, perched in a cage that dangled from the ceiling.

“Che-et.” Bernie spoke my name in a stretched out way he used when he had a concern about what might be coming next. And sure, because of my leaping ability – I’d been the best leaper in K-9 class, which had led to all the trouble in a way I couldn’t remember exactly, although blood was involved – how could I not wonder a bit about certain possibilities? But I wasn’t about to find out now, was I? We were on the job. Thump thump. “Good boy.”

The bird – green with scaly yellow legs and feet and a weird spiky comb on the top of its head – made a horrible croaking noise.

“Hear that?” said Cynthia.

“What?”

“He said, ‘Madison rocks.’ She taught him. He can say other things, too.”

Whoa. Cynthia was claiming that he – this beady-eyed inmate – could talk? I didn’t buy it.

“His name’s Cap’n Crunch.”

Cap’n Crunch bobbed his head back and forth, an ugly, lizard-like motion, and made the horrible croaking noise again. It ended in a high-pitched squeak that hurt my ears. One glance at Bernie and I knew he wasn’t hearing that squeak. Bernie missed some things, true, but you had to admire him: he never let his handicaps get him down.

“What else can he say?”

Oh, Bernie, please.

Welcome Abbey.

Cape Wildlife Center

“You visited the Cape Wildlife Center yesterday?” Spence says.

“The very nice director, Theresa Barbo, gave me a tour,” says Admin. “They’re doing great work.”

“She’s also a writer,” says Spence. “Weren’t you on a panel with her once? I’m sure you remembered.”

“Um,” says Admin. “Anyway, I saw two or maybe three different kinds of hawks, an owl, and even a couple of fishers, all in various stages of recovery and being cared for in state-of-the-art fashion until they can be safely released into the right habitat.”

“Fishers on the Cape?”

“Yup. And don’t let me forget the turtles, and lots of other birds, plus rabbits and raccoons. It’s a great facility. There was some talk of a  signing, maybe in conjunction with a wine tasting.”

“One of my favorite conjunctions.”

“Cheers.”

http://www.humanesociety.org/animal_community/shelters/cape.html

Welcome Mikia and Kale. Thelma and Louise, please try again (if not airborne).